At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 194: Capture Hukou Pass, Sima Xin returns with reinforcements
Hukou Pass, Han army camp.

Cao Xing and Han Xin looked serious when they saw Hukou Pass with the city gate closed, but when they saw the Qin soldiers commanding sparsely on the city wall, they both breathed a sigh of relief. At least the information they got in Changzi County was correct.

Han Xin said: "Although Hukou Pass is a well-defended pass, fortunately, as the information we have received, the Qin army does not have enough soldiers now. This pass requires more than 2000 defenders to exert its one-man power. Guan Wanfu has no ability to use, and now the Qin army only has 500 people. This number is far from enough for such a fortress. Now the soldiers of the Qin army cannot even stand on the city wall, and one-tenth of the defensive power of such a powerful pass cannot be exerted. "

Even if there is a pass with a man in charge, it cannot only be guarded by one soldier, but there must also be exchanges of soldiers for rest. The current situation at Hukou Pass is that the number of soldiers is far below its minimum requirement.

Cao Xing said: "Although 500 Qin soldiers are few, they can still cause us a lot of casualties when they are stationed at the city gate. Do you have any good siege tactics?"

"I suggest you, Lieutenant Commander, lead the main force in a frontal feint attack to consume the Qin army's defensive materials and energy and morale. When the Qin army is exhausted after the Hukou is closed, I will lead a surprise army to concentrate on defeating it first and disrupting the enemy. The defensive front of Hukou Pass collapsed, and we strive to break through Hukou Pass within one day to prepare for the next battle."

After the two discussed the siege strategy, Cao Xing brought his men to set up camp, while Han Xin led his men to cut down trees and build ladders for siege. "

The next day, Cao Xing and Han Xin led troops to attack Hukou Pass.

Cao Xing divided his 2500 soldiers into five groups, and used intermittent attacks to attack the city wall and climb the city wall as an auxiliary to attract the attention of the defenders at Hukou Gate. He mainly used bows and crossbows to kill the Qin army. To consume the defense force.

The Han army had no shortage of bows and arrows. After conquering Changzi County, the entire Shangdang arsenal was captured by Cao Xing and others. Although most of the weapons were used to support Meng Tian, ​​there were quite a few long arrows, bows and crossbows. All of these weapons were packed and brought to the battlefield by the two of them.

Soon, he was the only soldier left dead after the pot mouth was closed. Jiang Xing could only rely on the city wall due to excessive blood loss, but he still shouted to kill the enemy, but soon his mouth could no longer move. .

The soldiers who followed him also fought with him, but no matter how brave Jiang Xing and the others were, they could not change the outcome of defeat.

From the early morning attack to the evening, the defenders of Hukou Pass suffered heavy losses. A large number of soldiers were killed by the Han army's bows and arrows. More importantly, they did not stop for a whole day. Every Qin soldier was exhausted. At this time, Hukou Pass was still There are less than 300 combat-effective Qin soldiers.

The fall of Hukou Pass was inevitable. There were fewer and fewer Qin soldiers on the city wall. Some soldiers did not want to die and threw away their weapons at the Han soldiers and said: "We surrender, don't kill us."

"Kill!" Wang Jin also yelled, waving the long knife up and down in his hand, bringing out pieces of blood. The soldiers of the Qin army who had been fighting for a day were no match for Wang Jin. Wang Jin's knife was twice as fast as the soldiers of the Qin army. Many veterans of the Qin Army were hacked to death by Wang Jin before they could react, so much so that they looked a bit like veterans of the Qin Army dying.

"Kill!" Cao Xing led the soldiers into Hukou Pass.

Jiang Xing led the soldiers to fight hard. Under his encouragement, the Qin soldiers' blood boiled with enthusiasm, and once again inspired their little strength, they followed Jiang Xing and stepped forward bravely, risking their lives to kill the enemy.

Seeing the sun setting in the west, the soldiers of the Qin Army thought that today's battle would end like this. But at this moment, Han Xin led 1000 soldiers to fight out from the flank of Hukou Pass. His offensive was so fierce that the soldiers of the Qin Army could not follow at all. On the rhythm, in less than an hour of burning incense, the Han army climbed onto the wall of Huguan. Qu Chang Wang Jin led the Han soldiers to defend the stronghold occupied by the Han army at Hukou Pass. The Han soldiers climbed up one by one from the ladder below. Hukou Pass.

More and more Han troops boarded the city wall, and the killings on the city walls became more and more intense. The passionate sound of war drums also inspired each Han soldier, making the entire Hukou Pass more bloody and cruel.

Cao Xing said: "We don't want to kill the surrendered soldiers."

Seeing Xiaodouzi running further and further away, Jiang Xing put down the burden in his heart and shouted: "Soldiers, kill the enemy!"

Then Cao Xing shouted: "You have no chance of winning. Drop your weapons and surrender. Our Han army will not kill the surrendered troops."

The Qin soldiers who followed heard this and surrendered.

Because Cao Xing and the others discovered when they were guarding Xiuwu County that as long as they had enough long-range weapons, they could make up for the gap in military strength to a certain extent. Therefore, although Cao Xin and the others only brought more than 3000 people, they brought 30 long-range weapons. arrow.

Xiaodouzi nodded in fear, then quickly went down to the city tower, found the stable, took out a war horse, and galloped towards Handan.

"Xiaodouzi, you ride your war horse to Handan to report to the general that Hukou Pass has fallen and ask them to prepare early." Most of Hukou Pass are old soldiers, but there are also some young people, and among them Xiaodouzi is the youngest, just 15 years old this year, and is still a child. Jiang Xing doesn't want Xiaodouzi to die here.

But Jiang Xing, the general guarding Hukou Pass, still shouted, "Kill the enemy, kill the enemy bravely!"

"Wang Jin, what are you doing? Why don't you clean up the battlefield quickly!" Han Xin said angrily.

After killing only one veteran, Jiang Xing, Wang Jin couldn't bear it. There were a large number of gray-haired veteran corpses around him. Jiang Xing was also a gray-haired veteran. This scene made Jiang Xing look even more miserable.

Because they had enough bows and arrows in their hands, Cao Xing and the others focused their attacks on crossbows. The long arrows were like a heavy rain, constantly killing the effective forces of the Qin army at Hukou Pass. Every once in a while, Cao Xing changed his men and horses to attack, and continued to use bows and arrows to kill the Qin army. At the same time, he attacked the city from time to time, so that the Qin army could not relax.

The number of Han troops was already greater than that of Qin troops at Hukou Pass. Some of the Han troops ran down the city wall and opened the gate of Hukou Pass.

Han Xin remembered that there were 3 Qin troops under Handan City, but now he was afraid that they were on their way to Hukou Pass.

Wang Jin sympathized: "Bao Qin is too inhumane to let such an old pawn go to the battlefield."

Although Wang Jin didn't mind hacking the Qin soldiers to death, the fact that most of the people hacked to death were old people still made Wang Jin a little unbearable. But on the battlefield, you will die or I will live. Even the old man Wang Jin will not hold back. He can only transfer this hatred to Qin and the First Emperor.

Only then did Han Xin notice that among the soldiers who died in the battle when the Hukou was closed, there were a large number of gray-haired old men.

Han Xin said with some joy: "This means that the soldiers in Guanzhong have been exhausted, and the First Emperor can no longer send out young soldiers."

Then Han Xin looked at Wang Jin and said: "You take Tan Ma to find out the intelligence of the Qin Army and find out how far they are from Hukou Pass? After you understand the intelligence of the Qin Army, don't let them return. Instead, let them hide in She County and Lu County. Establish an intelligence network for us to monitor every move of the Qin army.

Wang Jin wondered: "General, do you need to go to such trouble?"

It's okay for the generals to establish an intelligence network. There are only a few thousand people in total. To guard a pass, they need to establish a small intelligence network. This is too exaggerated.

Han Xin said: "Now we are separated from the main force of the Han army by the Taihang Mountains. We can no longer rely on the King of Han's intelligence. If we don't find a way to detect the intelligence of the Qin army, we are afraid that the enemy will come and we will die without knowing how. "

Han Xin didn't want to fight without knowing any information. They were lucky to have raided Shangdang County this time, but he didn't want to put his life on luck.

Wang Jin could only do what Han Xin said and left Hukou Pass with a dozen scout horses.

December 37, the 8th year of the First Emperor's reign.

Gaodu County, Han army camp, Chinese army tent.

Zhang He looked at Han Xin's latest battle report and said in surprise: "Cao Xing and the others were very lucky. They even conquered the eldest son, and now they are attacking Hukou Pass. This Han Xin looks like a scholar, but he I didn't expect that the battle would be so fierce, and the entire Shangdang County was almost penetrated by him."

Cao Xing and the others marched for more than 500 miles along the way, with the new army moving at a speed of 60 miles every day. They also captured two cities along the way. Among them, the eldest son was the seat of Shangdang County. It was a large city with strong defenses, but it was unexpectedly captured. Cao Xing and the others were defeated in one battle, but the speed of his support from the rear could not keep up with their speed of marching and fighting.

Zhang He did not expect that the attack on Shangdang County would be so smooth. The main force he led was hundreds of miles away from Han Xin and others. When they originally formulated the strategy to block Meng Tian, ​​they were about to complete it even before his main force arrived!

But it was completed so smoothly and quickly, and he was worried about any hidden dangers.

Zhang He immediately asked: "How many Qin troops are there in Taiyuan County and Handan County?"

Cao Xing and Han Xin ran so fast that Zhang He was worried that the Qin army in Taiyuan County would cut off their retreat, and he was also worried that the Qin army in Handan would attack them. Zhuoyang, who joined the army, said: "The Qin army in Taiyuan County has less than 5000 people. They have more than enough to protect themselves and not enough to attack. However, there are 3 Qin soldiers in Handan. At the same time, Meng Tian's entire northern Xinjiang army has hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Handan. If they know about Hukou Pass, If they are captured by our army, we will definitely fight back, and we have to speed up, otherwise Han Xin and the others will be in danger."

"Zheng Xin!"

"The general is here!"

"You lead our 1000 cavalry to support Cao Xing and the others!"

"No!" After Zheng Xin received the order, he immediately led his cavalry to support Hukou Pass.

"Report, General, the King of Han has sent a letter." A messenger said.

Zhang He took the letter and said: "The King of Han has pushed Meng Tian's Northern Xinjiang Army to the front line of Handan, and Meng Tian's Northern Xinjiang Army is about to be finished."

The generals of the Han army present cheered. After all, their Han army won the shocking battle.

After the generals calmed down, Zhang He continued: "So now our task is very important. We must block Meng Tian's escape route at the front line of Shangdang Taiyuan County. For this reason, the King of Han also sent General Song Liu to lead an army of 2 to support us. As long as It was a great achievement that we blocked Meng Tian."

Zhuo Yang, who joined the army, smiled and said: "This is not what we are best at. A few months ago we blocked Meng Tian's food route, and now we block Meng Tian's escape route. Meng Tian will probably hate us to death."

The generals laughed again, but they were confident that they could complete this task.

Then Zhang He said to his generals: "The whole army is marching urgently. We must reach Hukou Pass before the Qin army."

"promise!"

August 37, the 8th year of the First Emperor's reign, Handan, Qin army camp.

Yesterday, Sima Xin just received information from the guard at Hukou Pass, saying that the Han army had invaded Shangdang County and Changzi County had fallen.

Sima Xin was so frightened that he almost couldn't stand up. Because Shangdang County is now not only the Qin Army's food route, but also the Qin Army's only retreat. With the rebels launching a new counterattack, the Northern Xinjiang Army may retreat from Hukou Pass to Guanzhong at any time. If Hukou Pass is captured by the Han army, the Northern Xinjiang Army will be completely surrounded by the rebels in the Central Plains.

He immediately ordered the soldiers of the Qin army to start pulling out the camp, preparing to return to Shangdang County to aid, hoping to hold the entire army's retreat route. As a result, his forward troops had just moved out, and before the rear camp left the scope of Handan City, there was another report of the Hukou Pass attack. News of the conquest.

"How come they were attacked so quickly? Didn't you already know the news that the rebels were about to attack? You used Hukou to close the natural barrier. You didn't even let them defend for a month. Why didn't you defend for even a day?" Sima Xin was furious and grabbed him. The Qin soldiers who reported this news.

The messenger Xiaodouzi said in fear: "We only have 500 people, and most of them are old and weak, but the enemy has thousands of people. The rebels fought from morning to night. Everyone is tired and can't pick up the knife. This At that time, another rebel army broke out. They were extremely brave and climbed onto the city wall in no time. Although the general and the others fought desperately, they were tired and could not defeat the rebels, so everyone died and I was the only one who came to report the news. "

Sima Xin was surprised and said: "Hukou Pass is in such an important position. Why does it have so few troops? The Cao officials in the Taiwei Mansion are all free earners. How come such a choke point is equipped with such a small number of troops? Shangdang County But the front camp resisting the rebels, why did a county not even have 3000 soldiers, so that the whole line collapsed when the rebels attacked."

How could a soldier like Xiaodouzi know this kind of problem, so he could only look at the angry Sima Xin with fear.

"General, please don't embarrass this soldier." Sima Xin joined the army and waved his hand, signaling Xiaodouzi to leave.

"This situation has something to do with us after all. The general has mobilized 2 soldiers and 3 civilians from Shangdang County to deal with the increasingly fierce war in the Central Plains. Naturally, Shangdang County will leave some old and weak people behind." Joining the Army said with a wry smile.

"The general's original intention was that as long as the rebels in the Central Plains could be defeated, there would be no problems in Shangdang County. Who would have thought that our 30 elite troops in Da Qin could not defeat the rebels? At that time, everyone focused their attention on Qi in the Central Plains. , naturally they neglected the military equipment of Shangdang County, and everyone did not expect that the rebels would launch an attack at the same time along the thousands of miles of Yellow River defense line, and we, the elite of Great Qin, were unable to stop them."

Joining the army thought for a while and said: "Now we can only order the whole army to speed up the march and retake Hukou Pass before the enemy has a firm foothold."

Sima Xin said loudly: "Order the entire army to speed up the march. The entire army will arrive at Hukou Pass within six days."

August 37, the 8th year of the First Emperor's reign, Hukou Pass.

Zheng Xin's thousands of cavalrymen traveled more than 500 miles day and night, and finally arrived at Hukou Pass.

The arrival of this cavalry made Cao Xing, Han Xin and others overjoyed. This supporting army became more confident in holding Hukou Pass.

In the meeting hall, Han Xin handed Zheng Xin the latest Qin army intelligence. Sima Xin's 3-strong army had more than 60 new troops every day and was rapidly attacking them.

Zheng Xin said seriously: "The first enemy we face is Sima Xin's 3 Qin army."

Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, we have more than 3000 people here, which is enough to resist the 3 Qin army."

But Han Xin shook his head and said: "If we want to prevent the Qin army from entering Shangdang County, it is enough for us to defend Hukou Pass, but if we want to cooperate with the King of Han to surround Meng Tian and the hundreds of thousands of Qin troops, it is not enough to block Hukou Pass because the Qin army We can also enter Taiyuan County from Hengshan County, and then escape to Hedong County and return to Guanzhong. If Meng Tian takes this route, everything we have done will be in vain."

"So we have to fight out and occupy Lu County, She County, and even Wu'an County and Handan City in Handan County to form a complete siege of Mengtian's Northern Xinjiang Army."

Cao Xing exclaimed, "You are crazy. With our strength, even Sima Xin may not be able to defeat you. You actually want us to block Meng Tian's return north. We are not strong enough, and we are not seeking death."

Han Xin smiled and said: "Our strength is enough to defeat Sima Xin. With the strength of General Zhang He, although we may not be able to defeat Meng Tian, ​​we can still prevent Meng Tian from going north. Not to mention, the main force of our Han army is in the Central Plains. I'm afraid that the King of Han has already begun to organize a siege network against the Qin army."

Zheng Xin said: "It's still too far to talk about Meng Tian. What should we do even if we face 3 Qin troops?"

Han Xin smiled calmly and said: "Sima Xin came to die on his own initiative. Of course we must annihilate them and make a good start for the Han King's entire northern Xinjiang army."

December 37, the 9th year of the First Emperor's reign.

The autumn wind is getting stronger day by day, and the mountains in the distance have begun to become colorful. There is a lot of fruity fragrance floating in the mountains, and the refreshing autumn wind makes people want to fall asleep. Han Xin and Zheng Xin led 1000 elites to ambush in a valley 20 miles away from Hukou Pass. Han Xin's tactics to annihilate Sima Xin's troops were also very simple: cut off his retreat and attack from both sides.

Zheng Xin looked at the big fruit-laden tree not far away and sighed: "I have never fought such a long war since I followed the King of Han."

Han Xin asked curiously: "When did Zheng Sima follow the King of Han?"

Zheng Xin smiled and said: "Back then, King Han and I were imprisoned in the prison of Yang County. King Han was a capable man. He taught Deng Zong a lesson just after he came in. He also lived very well relying on Prime Minister Zhou, unlike us. I almost starved to death in jail."

Han Xin said in awe, "Zheng Sima, you are very experienced."

Zheng Xin seems to have the same level as Han Xin, but his connections are not comparable to Han Xin's.

Zheng Xin shook his head and said: "It's just that I killed too many people. In fact, I still like farming more than killing people. It's almost the autumn harvest now. I really don't know if the land at home has been harvested. So many young people have left. Have the prices of food increased?"

(End of this chapter)